LiDAR for Scotland Phase 3: 11,772 km² of Aerial Survey Data

11,772 square kilometres of LiDAR point cloud data were captured for Scotland's power network and a council project. The Scottish Government procured this dataset for public use in 2019, with initial collection by Fugro for Scottish Power Energy Networks in 2015-2016. This dataset reflects LAS point cloud data with a density of 4 points per square metre.

Use Cases

• Monitor overhead power cable networks and vegetation encroachment based on the LiDAR data's original purpose for asset management.
• Create high-resolution digital terrain models (DTMs) and digital surface models (DSMs) based on the 4 points per square metre density.
• Analyze land cover and elevation changes for environmental planning, leveraging the dataset's coverage of 11,772 square kilometres.
• Support flood risk modeling and hydrological analysis for the Whiteadder project area based on the 2019 pilot flights mentioned.

Strengths

• Covers a significant area of 11,772 square kilometres.
• Specifies a consistent point cloud density of 4 points per square metre.
• Has a documented procurement and public release history by the Scottish Government in 2019.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset does not have full national coverage of Scotland.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Aerial LiDAR capture by Fugro for Scottish Power Energy Networks.

Time Range

Primary collection in 2015 and 2016, with pilot flights in 2019.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Scotland, covering 11,772 square kilometres (not full national coverage).